Survivorman TV Show - Survivorman Television Show - Yahoo! TV

I like that Les is honest and practical in demonstrating useful survior techniques in real sceanarios. Unlike the other clown who seems bent on showing off his physical prowess and constantly refers to his military special operations training while acting like an idiot and swilling his own pee (c'mon!), Les is much more instructive about what is necessary in truly surviving in a hostile environment. He demonstrates ingenuity and creativity in using what he has available to make a fire and build a shelter. I also like that he documents his sucesses and failures with hand-held and tripod mounted cameras that he carries with him during his adventure; he is truly alone. This is another trait that sets him apart from the bear guy who is followed around by a camera and sound crew.

Even as an accomplished outdoorsman and backpacker, I still find myself adding to my knowledge base with each episode. Les is self-effacing in showing survivalist do's and don'ts whether he's in the tropics, arboreal setting, swamp, pacific northwest coast or artic. He also plays a mean harmonica.

I would like to echo what others have said about how the fact that Les Stroud is alone is very intriguing and makes for a far better show than watching some guy who pretends to be alone but really isn't like Bear Gryls on Man vs. Wild.

I enjoyed Man vs. Wild when I believed what they said about how Bear would only have contact with the camera crew in the event of a "life-threatening" situation. I always thought Les Stroud's advice seemed more practical whereas Bear likes to do extreme stuff like jump into a frozen pond. Of course, when I found out that Bear Gryls was staying in hotels at night and chatting with his camera crew all the time, I stopped watching Man vs. Wild.

This really made me appreciate what Les Stroud does even more. I really enjoy watching the show and have learned a ton from doing so. Keep up the good and HONEST job, Les.

For those who have not followed Les' adventures through the years, let me reiterate that Les is not a "copycat" of Bear's Man Vs. Wild - Survivorman was aired before the more recent Man Vs. Wild.

While Man vs. Wild is about a highly trained, handsome GI-Joe like survival expert who teaches survival skills in harsh conditions while his camera crew follow him around, Survivorman is about Les, a survival expert in his own right who carries around fifty pounds of camera equipment and very limited supplies (sometimes nothing much at all) and documents his survival efforts for seven days.

Now, don't get me wrong, Man vs. Wild is very entertaining (I thoroughly enjoy looking at Bear - sometimes even half naked Bear - as any woman in her right mind would) but we aren't all Royal Navy trained, Everest climbing people, like Bear is. While he teaches us to survive he does some wild acrobatics and feats of climbing that, I'm sorry to say, is well beyond the average lost hiker's abilities. Les is a bit different. Fit, yes, but also older, balding, and not prone to jumping over chasms, Les gives us a more practical view on survival. And the big difference is - he is all alone. He has no camera crew to talk to or help him - he is his own camera crew, and the only thing he gets to talk to is his cameras. (And yes, he does set them up and take them down all himself - even shots from a mile away. Previous episodes sometimes show him treking all the way back to get his cameras).

So while Man vs. Wild is entertaining, action packed, and very fun - Survivorman is more hard-hitting, and without a doubt, in a world full of "reality" t.v., very, very real.

Les shows you what to do to survive in an emergency situation. Things like building a fire, creating shelter, finding food or at least trying to anyways. Unlike Bear who decides to climb down waterfalls (stupid idea), cross fjords in boat that he "finds" (anyone notice the grass was green under the boat? Jumps into icy water (never do that), rafting through rapids on a log (great what happens when you break your leg), jumping off waterfalls into unknown waters (what happens when you break your leg)... Les may not have as much flare as Bear, but it is about what to do to survive in an emergency, not flare. youtube up bear and his dangerous situations...